John Cena: I Ate the Puke Burger

what part of your body has taken the like the biggest hits in like when you when you feel your body in the morning there's got is it your shoulders your knees is your is there any part of your body where you were like the hand i was like yeah you're like his hand is tired is there something that you have kept from your days of not having money that like just still sticks with you uh being broke like i'm never going back john cena teaches us how to use deal when you look at what we do tons of crowd shots crowds chant it they're they're literally like european football crowds yeah yeah yeah but we don't want them to shut up we want them to keep being as rowdy as you can because if we perform to apathetic silence it's not it's really just kind of two guys in their underwear doing stunts sounds like a normal saturday for you yeah you know you know they sometimes want to heal the relationship that they never had with their fathers by having kids oh my goodness wow wow man that's goosebumps wow that's yeah do you still remember your bully by the way because i i remember my bully so and i'm always in you don't remember your were you bullied first of all no i don't know if you were or weren't maybe it's happening now oh man don't be like that i just find it fascinating that like everyone remembers their bully what's a record you want to break i said life expectancy i want as many days as i can get because it's beautiful i don't i don't want this to end you know uh and it will and that's okay but i have that appreciation i think i've always had it i just couldn't put it into words my actions define that like yo this dude is going for life he's going at it john cena everybody that's it this is what now with trevor noah you know what i've never seen before yeah i saw it at your house i saw this deodorant that doesn't smell like anything yeah just like a neutral wait what's the point because you don't stuff sweat thank you yeah wait it stops the sweat yeah and then you smell like what well you can have you can have a scent for that you can have a cologne or a perfume no guys doesn't throw you off that no put on because you always wear something that smells really nice yeah doesn't throw you off that then you're also putting on an underarm deodorant that smells different to that yeah because the combat is different under there yeah but you don't need like that's guerrilla warfare that's trench warfare yeah but you don't need you just need to smell prevention you see stuff sweat yeah yeah that's all you need so that just blocks the sweat yeah yeah no man but it says scentless yes it didn't say stop sweatness no that's what it does deodorant is if it says deodorant you it's generally assumed that it stops the sweat yeah you know what you know what gets me in my life sometimes is i go i can't believe john cena has to teach you about deodorant well he spent half of his life without a shirt you're right a lot of armpit sweat a lot of armpit sweat can i just say thank you man it's been a while thanks for having me back no different setting but not thanks eugene nice to meet you it's the first meeting you man first time we've met each other you can't say like we're looking forward to this thanks for helping me dive into deodorant yeah right no because you really tested my knowledge wait a second no that's the purpose of it is to stop sweat it's not there's nothing to do with it that'll just be like the episode title john cena teaches us how to use deodorant that's it that's all he came to do that's all he came to do uh but no man you're you're you're busy you're on the road making movies doing your thing you know you're just like i appreciate that but there's always time to just catch up with folks man there's always time you know that i love that about you you just have like a i've always wondered is is your vibe because of massachusetts or is your vibe because of you oh uh so what i'm hearing is is it environmental or like um experience driven yeah yeah yeah because you have a very welcoming easygoing warm wise folksy vibe to you that's not massachusetts there's a term out there called mass holes and that is a real thing so what your your explanation thank you very much for the kind words yeah i would say that's less geography and probably more life experience yeah how how different are you to your siblings in that regard uh i think we grow more similar every day really yeah i think you know as we get into the i guess act three of our life um we're not trying to be heard as much you know i grew up in a household with four brothers and we're all real close my oldest brother's 52 i'm i'm gonna be 50 and then it's 48 46 yeah yeah there's no way you're turning 50 in april i hope so i haven't made it there yet but i hope so but you look good for 50 thanks man i'll take i look good i'm good and great in the same century half a century i would have never guessed 50 yeah yeah yeah we're all real close and i think uh i think we're all real close and i think we're all real close and i think um you know growing up you you only got two parents you struggle for identity and attention and like who who am i like oh my my older brother was uh into theater and into tech okay uh i kind of led the charge of playing sports so then like i played football so my other brother played baseball and then my younger brother wrestled because he couldn't play football because i was like john's thing and then baseball's dan's thing so it's like um i think we're less now searching for our identity yeah yeah and more just enjoying the time we have with each other so i think every passing day we become more and more okay with who we are so do you find that you you know because i was thinking about your life obviously you know i know you're coming to the show and we're gonna hang out with god that's a nightmare what do you mean thinking about my life son of a bitch i don't wish that on anybody i was though and i was going you know life life is so interesting so i was having this conversation with you the other day um when i was young all i dreamed of was having a car that everyone would look at me in that's all i wanted i was like man i just want to be in a car and i want people walking by me like oh look at that guy and look at the car look at the guy and then now the last thing i want is for anyone to be looking at me inside any vehicle you know you know what i mean like i rented a car recently we were doing shows in cape town and was a convertible and then i dropped the top and then literally like two traffic lights somewhere some guy screamed out i'll never forget whoever he was he was a legend because you're like yeah have sex with me trevor and i was like well the roof is going back up but in my head i thought pretty bold offer no it was amazing strong opener i loved it especially because he was inside the car man don't be like that yeah screaming at the top of his lungs but he could just ask and and what i thought to myself is it's so funny how in life sometimes the thing your entire childhood or your young adult life hoping for becomes the thing that you either get over or start to want the opposite of and i was wondering like when i was thinking of you getting dressed when you're a kid like trying to be as different as possible was that part of trying to find your identity you think nothing's changed man you think so yeah i look like a chocolate bar with pumpkin streaks you know i think now you like i actually think i'm uh fashion is uh expression it's also you feel comfortable i feel comfortable in this this was me at like 12 just the mc hammer yeah pants and it was not a suit jacket it was just like that kid and play rayon top front like i'm kind of doing the same thing you know um it's it's interesting you bring that up i think as we evolve obviously our we shouldn't be the same person we were yesterday right yeah and also i don't think it's restricted to just being a young person i think we're always searching for a greener grass i think that's human nature right you know i got this but yo if i could only get this life i'd be on easy street that the problem is that's it's not true there there really is no easy street there's just every situation comes with its own set of issues uh its own set of pros and its own set of cons right uh granted that's you know you're on a relative scope there there are people that are you know brought into this world who really have some steep hills to climb yeah um and wanting to aspire to do more that's great but i think at least in my experiences when i focused on the if i just get this i'll be happy yeah as soon as i get that i'm just looking for the next thing hedonic adaptation man you know so it's for me it's more like um how can i move through space with with happiness that's not attached to material objects or even goal base you know what i'm saying how can i just live a good life yeah how can you fall in love with the process as opposed to the outcome yeah man that's one of the hardest things though dude it's not easy that's and like people throw that around in the pages of books and they'll talk about it on like motivational clips that shit's hard because but it's because nobody's sells us you know what i've for myself at least what i've realized is nobody advertises the process to us in general right so if you think about it you know you and i have had this conversation there are so many young boys who grow up dreaming of a ferrari and i mean like full-on dreaming oh man ferrari ferrari ferrari if i can get a ferrari and they believe it they truly believe that a ferrari is the car that they want but what we don't realize is none of us have ever driven it but we all know that it's the car for us we all believe that it's the car that'll come with a certain lifestyle wheel and i always think so many of us are unlucky or lucky to bump into the thing and then experience the strange moment of like where's the happiness because you go if i get if i get the rolex the happiness comes if i get the ferrari the happiness comes if i get the fame the happiness comes if i get the promotion the happiness comes if i get the and a lot of these things do come with a level of happiness you know i never say to people don't want something i always say to you it's not wanting is not the issue but it's what you just said oftentimes we want what we've never had believing it'll give us something that we actually have had which is a feeling that always like throws me and and i also think it's okay to like man i'm an auto enthusiast and uh i'm i'm wearing the crown this is my one what you what you got this is my one uh i i used to get into the watch game but i only have size do they have to add extra links they sure do yeah i can see that look at this yeah look at this so it's weird that we you know you wow guys i can take the watch off while i'm wearing i'll just wear it as a neck piece but you bring up rolex right yeah i got into collecting i'm i'm a collector of things and uh i got swept up in like watch mania i don't care what the face says the model is an explorer too and i fancy myself an explorer also so like story the story and the watch found me it helps me define or it keeps me in check like the pocket watch i have on that has uh the roosevelt code comparison is the thief of joy on the back and memento mori on the front oh if i think i'm drinking too much of my kool-aid the front works to remind myself i'm human and i'm gonna die and if i get in a room where i feel like oh man i don't feel like i belong well comparisons of thief of joy dude you're good like you're all right and you'll like you'll see me on red carpets like take this thing out and for real you'll still have moments like that now in life we all do as no no no but i'm saying as john cena you say we all do but i'm in my head i go but not as john cena yeah i think that's like like so so again i think that's the most difficult thing to do and it's the most difficult thing to do and it's the most difficult thing to do i think i've been very lucky in life i'm aware of that and i try every day to work hard to honor that luck and also i'm a human being and when i stopped losing the gambit of emotions of insecurity embarrassment shame guilt excitement happiness joy when some of those start falling by the wayside you you numb one you numb them all so like i i feel all that stuff doesn't matter who's on the poster doesn't matter what the bank account says doesn't matter who's on the poster doesn't matter what the bank account says doesn't matter who's on the poster doesn't matter what the bank account says doesn't matter who's on the poster doesn't matter what the bank account says doesn't matter who's on the poster doesn't matter who's on the poster doesn't matter who's on the poster doesn't matter the good days the bad poster doesn't matter who's on the poster doesn't matter who's on the poster doesn't matter who's on the poster doesn't matter who's on the bad days what's on my plate for dinner yeah i feel all that stuff bad days what's on my plate for dinner yeah i feel all that stuff because i'm human and regardless of because i'm human and regardless of because i'm human and regardless of opportunities and lottery tickets and luck opportunities and lottery tickets and luck opportunities and lottery tickets and luck you always feel that stuff and i think we you always feel that stuff and i think we you always feel that stuff and i think we we have this vision of people that we have this vision of people that we have this vision of people that my bride and i say it's like must be nice my bride and i say it's like must be nice my bride and i say it's like must be nice you know like oh look at that must be you know like oh look at that must be you know like oh look at that must be nice nice nice i don't know man because every situation i don't know man because every situation i don't know man because every situation even if if you're born gold spoon in even if if you're born gold spoon in even if if you're born gold spoon in your mouth never have to know want from a your mouth never have to know want from a your mouth never have to know want from a financial perspective that comes with a financial perspective that comes with a financial perspective that comes with a whole list of issues that i don't whole list of issues that i don't whole list of issues that i don't understand yeah the expectation is understand yeah the expectation is understand yeah the expectation is trying to walk in the shoes of trying to walk in the shoes of trying to walk in the shoes of who who got you that resource and luck who who got you that resource and luck who who got you that resource and luck keeping the gold spoon dog i don't even keeping the gold spoon dog i don't even keeping the gold spoon dog i don't even know the gold spoon it's something i know the gold spoon it's something i know the gold spoon it's something i don't know about it don't know about it don't know about it hey damn but i look up i look a level up hey damn but i look up i look a level up hey damn but i look up i look a level up and be like that must be nice they must and be like that must be nice they must and be like that must be nice they must have it easy have it easy have it easy they have the resource to have freedom they have the resource to have freedom they have the resource to have freedom that that that a set of problems i don't know about but a set of problems i don't know about but a set of problems i don't know about but that doesn't mean they're not human that doesn't mean they're not human that doesn't mean they're not human you know what i'm saying you know what i'm saying you know what i'm saying i just in my head never thought john i just in my head never thought john i just in my head never thought john cena cena cena i guess we we often take for granted i guess we we often take for granted i guess we we often take for granted that we're always living inside that we're always living inside ourselves do you know what i mean oh that's enough we see life through through this lens but i'm i'm in myself so i'm going like doubt okay worry concern i see you i've never looked at you and thought that ever ever ever in my life i've never thought to myself i'll be like oh this is a wise guy smart guy funny guy caring guy but i've never thought to myself no doubt no doubt you because because i'm not inside you yeah i mean man hey yo is he the guy screaming in my convertible hey yo hey yo your timing is amazing your comedy timing is your man truly like yeah have you ever done any type of stand-up ever like no i i honestly it's it's so odd how stand-up runs so parallel to pro wrestling so no i'm serious there's so many parallels first of all uh even at the highest level most of the time they're very rare cases you pay your own way you book your own travel you organize your own life uh you are responsible for your own gear um it's the act is yours right even though you're a part of this giant body uh you're out there uh usually with one other person in front of thousands of folks who are hecklers and enthusiastic and they know they're part of the show and you plan a routine and you plan a routine and you plan a routine and you plan a routine in the back but you also have to be ready to tell that first joke to crickets and when the crickets happen you got to be like change it up right now do this or if you have a whole elaborate thing planned and you go out and you look at each other and people are going nuts scratch the planet do this so like you have to be quick you have to pivot you have to know your audience you have to know yeah timing every uh you you guys are kind enough to say you have great comedic timing i just think it's timing because pro wrestling sports entertainment is timing it's not what you do you have to do things at the right spot if you've been in the guys who've been in the ring with me i'm the loudest talker if you're in the first six rows you hear the match before the match oh for real come hit me give me the ddt do the and then i'll be like we missed it wave it off don't do anything like i i have never been as athletically skilled as the greatest talent in the ring i'm always present and i'm always sensitive to the energy of the audience and i think that was something that allowed me to have such a lot of time to do that and i think that's what i'm doing right now i'm doing it right now long career it's like it's not what i did it's doing it at the right time when you sense of timing yeah because funny can come out of nowhere funny can come from timing you could you could hear somebody say something like i got something for that right right right you know when to land a joke and you know also being out there uh you know when the audience is like leaning forward with interest so you or maybe you know that like oh that that didn't work yeah you know in real road shows and it's a ton of town everything you're saying in a weird way i got goosebumps and then i was just like this is you start small real you start working these pos places they're like underground clubs but in wrestling it's like flea markets my i started performing in front of five people five this is exactly it's stand-up i would have never said the only other person who said this to me about their career like stand-up is a stripper i would i would honestly uh i would use that reference If the stripper was like a traveling stripper, like one night in Dallas, one night in Fort Worth, one night in Houston, one night in New Orleans, because you know, dude, a lot of it is just living the road life. If every set was at home, oh my God, you could walk home every day. Do you know what I literally said to Eugene earlier today? No joke. This is what I literally talked to Eugene about is I said, one of the things that has stuck with me for as long as I can remember in comedy is how many comedians were committing suicide around the time that I started on the road in the United States. Because in South Africa, we had such a small comedy scene. We still have a small comedy scene. So you spend more time at home. I always thought of it as a downside. I was like, oh, I wish we had the road. I came to the US. I was on the road. Nobody knew me. It was literally what you're saying. You're just that small act going around, paying your own way, getting from one place to the next. The club owner puts you on its flyers and everything. And then I would just hear comedians in the back room or in the green room go, hey, you hear about Tony? Oh yeah, shame. You hear about, and it would be an overdose. And it was always like someone committing suicide or overdosing, always on the road, always by themselves. Hotel rooms. By themselves, trying to do something for such a long period of time, experiencing glimpses of it. Because you see the audience, but they're not there for you. They're there for the main, the headliner. You just got to sample it. And maybe they liked you, maybe they didn't. And you go home and it's quiet. It's not even home. It's not even home. You go to like the Red Roof Inn or, you know, Mike Rotel or wherever you can stay. No room service. We're talking like that level of where it was. Yeah, where you're trying to watch every dollar being like, oh. Oh man, I can split a room. When we wrestled, I'd split a room with six dudes. We'd do Mike Rotel, 79 bucks, six guys in a room. The first time I stayed in a nice hotel, like a decent hotel that had room service, there was food in the hallway. And I remember seeing someone had like a half-eaten burger. And I was just like, what? What is this? What is, and then I took it. I was like, this is. Yeah, I've done that, but I was actually quite, quite influenced when I did that. It wasn't, it wasn't the first time I saw food in the hallway. It was a time where I needed food. I needed food because I knew the morning was going to be rough and I needed food. Gosh, there's a, there's a bigger story there. We, we got stuck in Ireland because there was a volcano and we couldn't get back to the States to perform raw. It was actually the first time they like flew new guys in to do raw like rookies because we just, we got stuck. And the last thing you want to do is leave us stuck someplace alone. And boy, we had a great night and a friend of mine, Dylan, who is, who wrestled under the moniker Hornswoggle and a friend, another friend of mine, Christian Cage, who was Christian in the WWE. Christian took. dylan to bed dylan was drunk he had room service and ended up throwing up on his hamburger that hamburger christian put him to bed tucked him in he said dude i'm gonna get the tray out put the tray in the hallway flash forward two hours later i am heavily influenced and food is closed and there are no options available and i look and i'm like that bird It was not even touched. I'm just going to bring that inside. I ate the thing. And then I come down to breakfast the next morning. Oh, man. And I'm like, oh, man, you guys cool? You dipped out early. And they're like, no, no, he had some problems. I took him to bed. He puked on his hamburger. I put him in the hallway. I was like, what? Wait, what room are you in? He's like, you're on the third floor? And I ate the puke burger. But it was, I needed it. I needed it. Oh, man. I needed it. You were like, there's pepper and mushroom sauce. Matt, I have a feeling at that point, I didn't even know. Like, I heard the story in the morning. And I was like, no, yeah, that checks out. Did you tell them? No, no, it happened. The unraveling of the story happened in real time at breakfast. I was like, yeah, you guys dipped out early. I had to take him to bed. And God, he puked all over the room. And he puked. And I put him in the hallway. And I was like, what? And I was like, what is room service out there? I'm like, what? Wait, what? It's like a full burger and fries. You're on the third floor. I ate the puke burger. So it wasn't the first time I saw food. But in a moment of necessity. Yeah. Yeah. It's all nutrition. I sometimes wonder if those experiences. Yeah, that sunk in. Yeah. I was just thinking about the burger. Yeah. But if you didn't know, though, it's not the worst. Yeah, well. It's the knowledge of it that makes it worse. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Otherwise, it's just like a Guinness-flavored burger. That's probably what I thought it was. Trevor. Especially for me. Yeah, that's probably what I thought it was. Yeah. What else is it going to be? Fine. I think I had the fries too, man. I don't know. Is there something that you have kept from your days of not having money that just still sticks with you? Being broke. Like, I'm never going back. Oh, that is like a fear that you have? Yes. So I've worked really hard to turn the fear into. I guess, a realistic approach. Okay. And I don't want to speak in absolutes. The term never going back, you know, it just means I need to be responsible and make responsible choices. Yeah. And that's the way I kind of move through space. Like, life has awarded me all this opportunity. Yeah. The worst thing I could do is piss it down the drain. So it's not that I don't live. I enjoy my life, and I honor the luck and live the life. And yet, every day, I try to do so responsibly and make responsible decisions. I don't ever want to go back. And I enjoyed the time where I was living in my car. I enjoyed the time when I, you know, I was leveraged to the hilt on credit cards just to try to learn how to wrestle. Right. So, you know, live in life at 21% interest. That was. It was a happy time, and it was by choice. A lot of folks don't have that choice. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because you chose to drive out, and that's when you were, like, at the Gold's Gym. Yeah. You were living in the car. Yeah, yeah. And again, I had. I had safety back in West Newberry. My dad's like, you got a roof over your head anytime you want. I'm like, no, man, I got to do this. I just. My parents grew up, or I grew up with my parents, and we had times of prosperity and then real hard times. You know, my dad's job was eliminated in the 80s. He was a real estate appraiser, and that job became obsolete. It was absorbed by the banks. So he went from having a thriving business to having, like, no business overnight. And with five mouths to feed, five young mouths to feed, and his wife and himself, we started stretching every dollar. So, like, going from prosperity to knowing that, like, oh, there is another side to this. We made it. Everything was fine. I see what you mean. I see what you mean. But I just. I'm going to try my best to make consciously responsible choices, relatively. And I'm super good with budget. My bride keeps me great with that. Right. I try to keep track of everything. And a lot of that is from wrestling. You have to know the money coming in. You have to arrange your own. You know, we perform in 50 states and foreign countries. You pay taxes and all that stuff. Like, you learn. You get, like, financial lessons through street smarts. So a lot of that knowledge and wisdom has helped me over the years. But even still today, I try to not let go of, like, don't ever not be aware of what's going on. Don't ever not be aware of where every dollar is going. Don't ever not be aware of the opportunities that are coming in. And by the way, it's going to end. So make sure you're prepared. And it's not a job. It's not a job where you work 35 years and it's done. Right, right, right. It could end with this interview. Like, everybody sees this interview and they're like, fuck that dude. And it lights out. It's done. You know what I'm saying? You ate what? Exactly. Exactly. So it's a… Pukeburger Cedar. I don't need him around my kids. I don't need him around my family. That's it. Done. So, I mean, that's… It's a… I understand it's a fragile business. And I think… Yeah. But, you know, here's one of the things that I often think is a gift for us. And I mean us as in people who don't work in an industry that is sort of seen as stable. I think one of the gifts is that we are able to acknowledge something that is actually true for everyone. But it's just less apparent in other jobs. Because your dad was doing something that was stable. Very stable. Very formal. Do you get what I'm saying? Overnight. I think of people who were working in factories when all of a sudden they automated. That was a stable job. Yeah. I think of people now who are working, you know, in like law firms on a junior level and then AI is going to come in. Yeah. It was a stable job. I think of like that idea of stability is one that gets sold to us. And we make decisions in our lives and we believe, we truly believe this is stable, this is unstable. And I sometimes think the gift of being in what's seen as like an unstable job or environment is that you just are aware of the instability. Whereas on the other side, it is just as… Man, people lose their job. In the recession, think how many jobs went away. Whenever industries shift, when economies move. Yes. You know, Detroit loses. It loses its industry, goes out, and then it comes back. And then, like, life is unstable. It is. It is. And that's why I say, like, oh, I'm never going broke. That's not true because that's beyond my control. Right, right. But you're just saying that's like the thing that sticks in your head. And talking to a lot of, like, first-generation entrepreneurs, successful folks. Yeah. It's like we all struggle with that same thing of, like, I just got to get enough security. And anyone would be like, dude, you'll be the richest guy in the cemetery. Like, what's your price? That's not a problem. Like, let it go. So, I am working hard to, like, let it go. Okay, okay. But that's one thing that as soon as I got my first paycheck from WWE, I was like, don't fuck this up. Save as much as you can. Be responsible. Enjoy. Invest in yourself, for sure. Yeah, yeah. But, man, this is going to end and probably quickly. You know, I had my eyes on, like, average lifespan for an athlete is three years. Yeah. Be good. I got lucky. You know what I mean? So, I think time under tension has helped as well. But that's one thing that has just always been there. I always think we, you know, you don't have these conversations all the time. The balance of being afraid of losing the thing and then also understanding what thing you should actually be afraid of losing. Yeah. So, one thing I've come to learn over time from people who've grown up in privileged or connected worlds is they've taught me. They've taught me that the real value that you possess isn't necessarily in what you have. It's in the understandings you develop and it's in the connections that you make. So, like, I think of it this way. You know, funny enough, I just recently watched the, like, a few months ago, watched the Hulk Hogan documentary. Yeah, yeah. It was, like, a phenomenal insight into this man in a way that, you know, few people will ever get for themselves or for others. And I watched another one. It was Mr. T. And again, and it's, you know, for me, watching these childhood heroes and seeing their journeys. And one of the things I did enjoy in watching these stories was not seeing the moments where things went bad for them. So, they went from, like, struggling to doing well to doing great to then doing well to then not doing well. But then seeing them having this, like, second chance on the other side because Mr. T will always be Mr. T. Yeah. You can't take that away from him anymore. Hulk Hogan will always be Hulk Hogan, you know, rest in peace. But, like, he would always be Hulk Hogan. Yeah. You can't take that from him anymore. And I think that's one of the things that anyone who hasn't grown up with doesn't realize is the real thing that separates us who, like, experienced nothing and then went to something and then to everything versus somebody who sort of grew up with something and everything is they know that it can be done again. And they know that, you know what I mean, the access is the real thing. Like, John Cena will always be John Cena. Yeah. Even if you may not reach the highs that you've reached before or the lows, you will never be. You will never be just that guy. And sometimes that gives me, like, a little moment to breathe where I go, okay, Trevor, breathe, take a vacation, spend more time with your friends. Yeah, man. Say no to that gig. Yeah. Because you will be able to make something out of something even if it may not get you to the same levels that you were before. Does that make sense? It makes perfect sense. Yeah. The best bets on yourself. Yeah. I think in most cases we're talking about goals and what people aspire to. I think sometimes those goals, that Ferrari, that fame, that wanting to have the money is just a replacement for experience. Yes. So someone who has that thing will be like, that's not all that life is. Yeah. Because they've experienced it. But also the fear sometimes goes away as we get experience. So if you know that you can always replicate the magic in one way or the other. I mean, you're the king of pivots. I look at you and I go, you've pivoted hard. I mean, from going to wrestling to acting seamlessly. And even before that, rapping, bodybuilding. Yeah, you are the king of pivots, actually. But that's all experience. And 19-year-old John Cena wouldn't have been told that. They wouldn't have been told that if they choose one thing and it doesn't work out, their life is over. But over time, nearing 50, I've done so many things. I've managed to pivot so many times. I also think those are great points, by the way. And I also think once you've done it, once you've built a startup, you know how fucking tough it is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like, it's not to say I won't. I mean, it's like going to the gym. The weights stay heavy and I keep going back. I don't know why. But I know that it's going to happen. We don't go anywhere. We don't even touch the door. We walk fast. It's too heavy. There's a gym. This is us. So please pick another example. Just make us understand. I think it's just knowing how steep the hill is going to be. Yeah. You know, and in thinking about my life and like, well, hey, what do you want each day to be like? Everybody always asks me, like, what's on your bucket list? What are your next goals? I don't think of it that way. I just, um, I've really lensed out to be like, man, I just want to be useful today. Like what's the best way I can be useful today. And if that is my wife has been clamoring for us to get like out of the work mode and into vacation, well, the best way I can be useful is to go somewhere that I've never seen before and fuck off like completely. And I think knowing that, okay, if I got knocked back to zero, I'd like to bet on myself, I'm pretty sure I, I would, I would survive. I would traverse the obstacle. I also wouldn't have the freedom to be like, well, how can I be the most useful today and the definition of it would change. Okay. We got to, we got to again, build this thing. So we have the resources to look around and think in philosophical terms of like, how am I most useful today? Can I sit down with two guys and talk for an extended period of time about things that I never would have. I thought about what I'm struggling to pay the MasterCard bill or keep the lights on. Like, Eugene always says this. It's so great. Yeah. I guess I just know how hard it is to get to that point of like food, shelter, rest, taking care of then loving connection, taking care of, and a sense of purpose, taking care of, all right, let's now I can think deeper about things and I really enjoy that pocket that I'm in and I kind of just want to, I want to just keep playing jazz as long as I can. I just don't. I don't, I don't want to, but I do know it's going to alter and pivot and change and end. And, uh, I guess, I guess right now I'm just, I'm enjoying what I got and I want to try to, to just be useful. And I know that if I get knocked back, gosh, it's all right, here we go. The usefulness is the steep climb again. Let's go. Yeah. Yeah. I think what makes me sad as I get older is how many people don't have the same disposition as us. I think we look at the sunny side of life. We think to ourselves, things are going to get better over time one way or the other, often. If you look at people in the hospital, there was this book that I read of, um, a lady who was working in palliative care, people who were just dying in a hospice. And she said, 10 out of 10, everyone who has asked, what would you, what would you want to be doing right now? They would either say, I want to be outside. And what do you regret? Not spending enough time with my friends and family. None of them said I missed my job. None of them said I missed my money or my house or my bed. All of them said, if I could get out of this bed and just feel. The sun or the wind or whatever, whether it is on my face, on my body, on my skin and hear the laughter of my kids or hear my friends telling that old story that they've been repeating over and over again, my life would be made, you know? And I think sometimes we build these little comforts around ourselves, these little mansions that become little prisons for us, not to go outside, not to see the sun, not to spend time with our friends. And we were talking about this earlier on, you were saying you make, he actually makes an effort for all of his friends to find. Themselves in one room, even those that don't know each other. And we just end up chatting and talking and just hanging out and traveling. And I'm like, I, I, you are blessed enough to, you'll never miss that. Yeah. Whatever happens to you. So the thing I realized is this is like, it's, it's, I don't know how to like, like clearly articulate it, but fundamentally, I think of, I think about it as asking yourself the question over and over again, because your situation constantly evolves. Hmm. It does. And, and I think no one teaches us this. I wasn't taught this in life. I've never heard anyone teach it to me or to somebody around me in life. But basically I go, when you are hungry, your primary goal is to get something to eat. That's all. So you go, I need to get something to eat. I need to get something to eat. And you may become very good at looking for something, searching for something to eat. What we often forget though, is when we get the something to eat, we don't, we're not really good at switching over. To now eating mode, we're still in hungry mode. And so now we're eating, but we're hungry. And that's where someone sometimes be like, Hey, slow down, slow down. And you're like, but I'm hungry. It's like, no, no, no. You were hungry. Now you are eating and you want to try and slow that down so that you're eating. Now you're not still in, in hungry mode. And then you find you, you eat and you're finished and then you're like, all right, what am I going to eat? And it's like, but you just ate. You don't even spend time being full now. And I think in life we take for granted what that thing can do to us. Not how many people, I was guilty of it. Many people I know are guilty of it. My friends, I'll play the game with all the time. I go, why did you start your job or why did you get into your career or why do you want to earn money? Why? They go like, oh, I want to do this. I want, I want, I want so that I can. And then I go, but then when you got to that place, did you do it? And they go, no. Well, you know, I mean, I got the house and I, you know, I was lucky I got married and I have the kids and yeah, but you know, now we got to get a bigger and I'm like, oh, but okay. Okay. What happens when you get there? Well, then when we get there, I'll save. And then I'll so that I can spend more time with my family and friends. Okay. Then you get there and I go, now, do you spend more time? I wish I could, but do you know how much this house costs? And you know, we got the second car. So I mean, I can't just sit around it. So it's like, oh, but if you're not careful, it's not that the one doesn't need to exist. It's you, you have to remember what you're doing at each stage and you have to keep asking yourself the question. Why did I want this? Am I there? Why did I want this? Am I there? Why did I want this? Am I there? And then you, that's why you said that. That's where I think we find ourselves in the correct pockets. Yeah. There's a, I mean, there's, there's a ton of nuance there too. So even, even, even the situational approach of like, man, my purpose is a provider. So if, if I have everything and we're safe, what the fuck am I providing? I need a bigger house. No, I gotta, I gotta do this. I gotta go out and do this because I want to, I want to be a provider. Yeah. I want to be a parent. Yeah. Because a lot of my friends are having their empty nesters now and they're sending their kids off and a few of them have like fractured sense of purpose because they're a parent. That's, that's what they are. That's what they've been. And gosh, they've been, they've been damn good. That's that's two decades. Think of that. Like I, I wrestled for 23 years. It took me five years to understand it was coming to an end fast to, to plan the best way I could for the fans and the company to. Yeah. To prosper on the way out. Yeah. And then to like change. Like I'm, I wrestled. I'm I'm that doesn't define who I am. That is a thing that I did. And in doing that gave me knowledge and wisdom and, and skills that I can better myself. If I get knocked back to zero, they can help me pivot. But I am not just a wrestler. So whenever he was like, oh my God, you're retiring. What are you going to do? I don't know. But I will wake up and be curious and I'll hold on to it. I'll hold on to it. I'll hold on to it. Yeah. I'll hold on to it. I'll hold on to it. Yeah. I'll hold on to it. I'll hold on to it. I'll hold on to it. I'll hold on to it. I'm not just a wrestler. I don't know. But I will wake up and be curious and I'll find something like I will, I will do something. I'd love to know where you, where you got that from, because again, going back to, you know, I watched this man who was very open, you know? And so I'm not saying this from my opinion, he's, he's talking about how he fell in love with the Hulk. He fell in love with what he represented, that character. He fell in love with what, what it felt like in the streets. He fell in love with how he moved through rooms and, and then his family would talk about when he was home, they felt like they were dealing with a shadow of the man. He would just be like quiet and it was like, Terry, is everything okay? And Terry just wasn't the same. But Hulk, I mean, he would, you know, and, and he couldn't resist the allure of coming back to the ring. And then, you know, like he goes for, you know, I don't know if it was WWF back then or when it changes, but then he goes to the other wrestling company and he goes and he, he tries it again. And people are like, you're old, man. Let it go. And he's like, no, because, because that thing isn't just who you've become. It's also where you find yourself most useful. You know how to make the people cheer. You know how to make a room shake. You know how to make people scream. You see those little kids in the front go, yeah, John Cena, John Cena. And now you just leave that behind. Like when, when you were preparing, I'd love to know when you were preparing for the leaving part and when you were, you know, when you were in your, like your final wrestling matches, and when you. Were there moments? moments where you doubted leaving no not once for real not once yeah uh my my biggest fear in that last year was getting hurt so i wouldn't make all the dates and like just have to go out with like a whimper rather than the full final chapter yeah you know um and it's it's odd because you gotta you can you can either be super conservative and do very little or you can leave them with the impression they had of you at your highest which i still i still feel you know i retired at 49 so i still feel at 49 like there could be hints of me at 30 i can if i prep enough and if i recover enough yeah i'm not doing i was used to doing five shows a week i'm doing you know we did 36 dates that's it so um it gave me enough recovery time it gave me enough prep time right to show when the light was on it was me and that was such a clear indicator of like oh it is time to go okay because you are you are barely hanging on when you were a kid or you when you were younger 20s 30s even to late 30s early 40s you could wake up off a two-hour sleep do morning media talk people into the building at noon get there help the merchandising department talk to creative plan your match post show drive to the next town wake up and do it again it you can you can't ignore the data that was the easiest the most logical thing to like it is time to go but everybody's like dude you look great i feel great yeah i'm still relatively strong uh-huh i can get in there and wave my hand in front of my face but i i don't ignore the data okay slower older more of a risk younger talent that move faster and more daring um the math isn't in my favor of like this is a pretty janky road ahead we're going to continue this conversation right after this short break i'm talking like 30 days on seven days off 30 days on seven days off or less and you're doing your own promotion um it so you spend more time as the ip than you do as a human this is why when you talk to rick flair whom i love and respect even on his doc richard fleer is dead i'm rick flair hogan terry he went away a while ago like i'm hulk you can't help but become the environment you're in the most yeah you know uh so so when it's supposed to be real you got these guys who are trying to convince you know fans to come in the building and see him and they they assume the role and it's really tough to shut the switch off yeah i think it gosh it was a steep hill to climb for wrestling but one of the best things they did is admit that it was entertainment it is not pure sport what part of your body has taken the like the biggest hits in like when you when you feel your body in the morning there's got is it your shoulders is your knees is there any part of your body where you go like the hand i was like yeah like his hand is tired yeah that's a bread that's a moneymaker dog now your face had to go with the hand i'm pretty good man honestly i'm pretty good hey man that's and now that now that i don't have to worry about preparing for those performances yeah i can spend a lot of time what was preparation so you're preparing for it changes over the time over the course of time but give me like a general idea of like how do you prepare for a wrestling match so uh it went from literally just me doing a couple of jumps to the music hitting to running out there like a tasmanian devil for real man like uh to really having a flexibility protocol that would start two hours before the uh i'd have to maintain like a certain warmth and heart rate you know an hour in just make sure you're always moving around and always stretching i'd have to to practice more like the difficult things i knew i could do in my sleep especially the strength-based stuff that i was known for because like oh i i could probably do that but i i'm not as strong as i used to be so can we go can we just go run through that just to make sure i can catch you um so a lot more preparation in like the arena which means you're falling down a little bit more i'm breaking a sweat at noon and then i got all day to cool down then i gotta break a sweat again and the the post tons of ice massage therapy just making gosh even something as simple as like making sure you stay hydrated uh like not over caffeinated like just little little all the nuanced things that i never used to have to freaking worry about that all could play their part in like oh man i just my knee's done because i'm dehydrated it's just like i didn't warm up enough yeah that's that's what the math tells you of like dude you feel good and i've also i've also seen it happen with a lot of my contemporaries i'll get to a point where you get to the the twilight of your career and you want to show the young performance you still got it so what you're going to do is you're going to go out and do stuff that you shouldn't be doing okay to try to set the example of like yo i can go and it doesn't look like i can do it i can do it and i can do it and i can do it and i can do it and you you set yourself up for injury so you know looking at uh the lessons that were put out before me and then just looking at the math like man it is it's time it's time to go and and i love it uh wwe is still like pulses through my heart i'm putting on an event this this winter with them called the john cena classic because i want to still be involved so what's the pivot right the pivot is event promotion take the ip that everybody knows and the the core values that this ip this human being stands for and build an event around that with a goal to be like the arnold schwarzenegger classic okay got it okay got it that way those young able-bodied performers can do the falling down and i can be like these people are awesome we have our event and i show up and i'm still part of it that's the pivot so i can still have my i can still have the passion i'm a fan first i can still be a fan i love that actually don't walk away from the business but walk away from like again goals change too i want to be i want to be a wwe superstar that's what i want the most now i'm 50 i'm like yo i want to i want to still do i want to try to be a healthy mobile lifestyle at 80 and i don't control if i don't control if i make it to 80 yeah but you want to be but if i do yeah i still want those to be good year good mobile years so how is is getting in a car wreck you know 52 times a year the best way to to keep that going is probably not so my my perspective and goals change too i always think about how amazing it is that wrestling has has been on the journey that it's been in terms of like in the zeitgeist so like most young boys i was watching wrestling my entire life in your underwear in my underwear i'm asking no i wasn't watching okay but when when ultimate warrior was a thing in their underwear when ultimate warrior was a thing i probably was like okay it's underwear time okay that was when like yeah ultimate warrior was when i was like that's when i was like when i really got into wrestling and i would watch it when we could because we couldn't see it all the time in south africa it would come on sporadically you didn't have access to it on a pay channel yeah it was on pay channels literally couldn't afford it it was almost like law something some matches i think i've seen but kids just told me about them yeah it's cool yeah like literally they'll be like and then and then ultimate and then and i'll be like i've seen it it's like no i haven't seen it i actually didn't see it so i got into it at that stage i grew up with it you know the whole journey is like the stone cold steve austin that that whole era you know like the you know the um the rock was the rock even before that yeah even before that the heartbreak kid is like that whole era brett hitman heart do you know undertaker yeah and then and then i remember this period where i was like wow wrestling is fake and then like i even remember the zeitgeist of people being like wrestling's fake and no we don't like this thing it's fake and then it's interesting how wrestling has gone on for a long time and i think it's it's interesting how wrestling has gone on for a long time and i think it's interesting how wrestling has gone on for a long time and i think it's interesting how this is even more impressive oh yeah yeah they know what they're gonna do but people are athletes not actors yes because there was it's amazing how that's happened and then on top of that there's there's been this almost um intellectual um like resurgence not even a resurgence because it wasn't there before it's it's almost been a birth when i look at wrestlers and how people listen to you guys now and the things you guys say and the thing forgive me for saying this but i think it's but like i thought you guys were all just like brawny jocks and we loved it as kids but in my head i never thought to myself that like triple h would say something that makes me go like damn hunter that's a oh wow i gotta really listen to that listening to hulk hogan with all his flaws and everything but still like the human yeah the human behind it and then listening to you and what do you think or having seen that that that journey and that trajectory is like did we always have the wrong idea of wrestling and i think that's the thing that's the thing that's the thing that's and and who you guys were behind the scenes or do you think you all changed in that journey as well what you know i think it's more complex than that okay uh i think as performers in a day and age where they sold it as a shoot or as real these are real fights um the personalities had less time away from the personality and keep in mind uh in the globalization of wrestling when vince mcmahon took over in the early 80s the schedule was arduous i'm talking like 30 days on days off 30 days on seven days off or less damn and you're doing your own promotion um it so you spend more time as the ip than you do as a human this is why when you talk to rick flair whom i love and respect even on his doc richard fleer is dead i'm rick flair hogan terry he went away a while ago like i'm hulk you you can't help but become the environment you're in the most yeah you know uh so so when it's supposed to be real you got these guys who are trying to convince you know fans to come in the building and see him and they they assume the role and it's really tough to shut the switch off yeah i think it gosh it was a steep hill to climb for wrestling but one of the best things they did is admit that it was entertainment it is not pure sport because it was dishonest now we're honest so that was mid-90s tough hill to climb yeah you got to recorrect you know you got to you got to rebrand but the audience has always been rabid whether they thought it was real or they know that they're coming to a show right wrestling has always been filmed shot consumed as the audience is just as important as the performer whether you know it or not yeah when you look at what we do tons of crowd shots crowds chant it they're they're literally like european football crowds yeah yeah yeah but we don't want them to shut up we want them to keep being as rowdy as you can because if we perform to apathetic silence it's not it's really just kind of two guys in their underwear doing stunts sounds like a normal saturday for you yeah you know you know about that i was too slow i was too slow you were embroiled in the story you were engrossed you loved me you doubt all of my senses because i was like yeah man so i think it's drop kicked me in the chest it was built as real yeah it rebranded itself and when you rebrand it takes 10 15 years to get over okay wow we got over and i was happy to be involved in a lot of that rebranding process also the product goes through phases you you cater to your audience yeah the 80s hulk hogan was um nationalist virtual you know virtuous iran it was that's yeah or like say your prayers eat your vitamins you know do good uh and then stone cold steve austin the the raw era was drink beer flip off your boss well we're we are programming to an 18 year old male yeah got it like that's it right and then and then more families start to show up around the around the time that i started okay so we switched to literally we've changed the rating of the program to pg which means some of the some of the stuff we can't do uh blood is no longer in south africa that's when grandmothers were watching and our aunts were watching yeah on sunday yeah i never but i didn't notice that it was so intentional well here's the good thing about pg you can ship it anywhere a lot of countries won't take pg-13 or ma content if they know if they know it's pg now we can go global that takes time but after like 15 years of doing that everybody's like yeah i watch the wrestling and i will say the success of content creators so you know 2008 people start posting on social media the advent of instagram and the success of youtube it used to be like you're in movies or you're in television you're an actor you played pure sport you're an athlete wrestlers and none of that they're just carnies like we used to be just carny folk yeah and then everybody started making content and there became multiple lanes to success multiple lanes to relevancy to resource so it's like oh man these people have a voice and they have influence wwe was on the cusp of all that and our our accounts like our social accounts are off the charts our audience is super engaging you can't ignore the math you can't ignore the data it also became okay to be in the crowd for a wrestling match it used to be like a thing of like i've seen it i don't watch yeah and now it's like i'm going and you're right it has changed there there are fathers and there are families that went when i was performing they were like oh my god i'm going to be in a wrestling match now bring their families and it's still relatively digestible for for that type of audience right yeah so it's we've just been around long enough after all these tectonic shifts and changes where people are like no no it's it's fine it's cool and a lot of things happened in society to open doors for us we're like dude it's still so fucking tough to like get the baggage of being a carny worker off like still and what in what way she i can tell from a mile away if someone has no clue of what i do that stuff's fake right okay that comment right there it doesn't piss me off it's literally like uh an indicator of someone's ignorance of like with us as comedians yeah you don't understand yeah with us it's they go like oh it must be fine just talk shit for a living all day you don't understand yeah yeah so i guess you know what i mean we're we're all we all want to have you know like that's it's just that that uh that weight of trying to extend to conversations outside of your comfort i can only imagine that's where guys like dj have like the rock sorry have just shattered the glass ceiling because you know him being the first guy but then it's only like oh he's just the one everybody else do you remember the first time somebody took you seriously do you remember the first time obviously maybe wasn't one moment but where just somebody was like huh so honestly i think it's an ongoing process and i think that moment of huh isn't taking me seriously it's like well that's a surprise that's a pleasant surprise okay it's still and it's a it's a struggle like that's the hard thing that i don't mind doing that's the how can i be useful today i will spread the good word that these performers are able-bodied athletic they can speak publicly there's no second takes they're out there doing whatever they want they travel the world they're responsible for themselves they know failure and embarrassment like they also know elation and they know hard work i can be a good ambassador to try to help melt that okay yeah and of course the the connections we have being owned by tko which is owned by wme having deals with espn having deals with netflix just it's become more mainstream it's become more connected as well and ignore the fucking math yeah okay the program that makes sense across the world people watch and love what we do and the fact that major corporations and and major providers have been like yeah they watch it so i'll put it on and the world has been like oh i'm no longer embarrassed to be a wrestling fan then this is great and everybody else comes out and says this is great but it's it's i mean we could we could do a whole show on like the complex nuances of how wrestling became comfortable and it's still we're still working you know what i'm saying we're still working towards it it's it's um i think they'll always of course we're not gonna reach everybody they'll always be people who don't understand we do just like this all you do is talk shit yeah and hopefully one at a time we can change some minds i love this as just like a journey the but but what what you've made me realize is these pivots are a lot closer to like tectonic shifts than they are to just man you know the way that that's that's one that's one illumination you're giving me now not just about made overnight yeah but it's really like oh man it's this gradual shifting it's like oh you see the planet uh the continent now i was like no no no no no that took a long time to get to where yeah because it's like it's like it's like here's like my my performing years are over and i knew when i started i'm like oh man it's going to be past my past my performing life that hopefully this is going to change so it's you're working on a project that you'll never get to distilling 45 year old whiskey when you're 40 years old like i may never taste this out of the bottle out of the barrel but like you still you still do the work it's about the journey it's not about the get but i think it's funny i think in life that is oftentimes when the most progress is made and it's not just about the journey it's about the if we look at society i think we're increasingly living in a society where people no longer wish to participate in any project that they may not yield the rewards of yeah they're not planting trees which yeah we're not shades they won't enjoy there you go i'm noticing that less and less and i also understand some of it it's because like the pay it forward thing you know like obviously if you take it into let's say the economy people who can't afford to buy a house today because of how housing prices have have ballooned versus incomes etc they go then why should i participate in the next round or why should i or why should i and it's so interesting how quickly that thing can break in society where somebody then goes well if if i'm not going to be the wrestler who then why should i help you guys reform the wrestling thing does that make sense yeah and yet you are literally part of the reason the young superstars in wrestling are a thing now is because you you literally had to build something for them that you would not experience the full reward of you get what i'm saying i do and folks before me did that and folks before yeah but that awareness is something that i think most of us do not have in life it's hard to have it i i would agree uh and and many times we see life through our own eyes we don't think outside ourselves you know and that's okay if if i have a young performer that says i just want to go fucking gangbusters and be the most i want to be a household name and they do sociopathic reasons let's let's let's turn it up to 11 okay becoming a household name helps whether they're trying to do it for me or not oh okay i like this they're trying like every household name we produce okay helps everybody and whether their intentions are good or flawed if the business can remain as long as we don't shut the lights out every household name helps i see why everyone goes why aren't you gonna have kids me yeah i see it you don't have kids no i'm whoa man you came out came out the gate with the parent shame i'm sorry should i be ducking that i'm just kidding let's lean into that go ahead something's on your mind it's all right i'll take it back i can't tell you how many times i've heard that though you don't have kids you don't have kids yeah like just like that yeah so why how tell us more but you see this is why i get it now you'd make such a cool dad this is what you see never fertilized an egg that's how i don't have love the science behind it his favorite topic sperm yeah look at him look at how excited you got him you want to hear him saying it more oh boy my ejaculate look look look at what you're doing to my friend the fallopians to get to the ovaries to get that one that has not happened that is the reason i don't have kids yeah oh man yeah but i i get i get why so i'm sure you know this so at the risk of saying something you've heard a thousand times maybe you haven't i think it's because people will sell them bump into human beings who they in an altruistic way almost wish that they would make more human beings yes does that does that make sense so when i yes i now understand because like that's something that's followed you for like i don't even know how many years i've seen you answer that question so many times no i don't plan to have kids and you know and that's even when i met my my current wife my first date that was the conversation you guys had is just like which i think is important yeah before the he was like wait wait wait wait wait hold on those look good but wait just one second yeah what's your stance on family you see yeah so but i've never heard that question but i can see why people go but but john what so because everyone wishes that they would have had a dad or everyone wishes that someone would have had a dad that is this nuanced this thoughtful this like caring this do you understand goodness i appreciate all that but then let's so let's lean into that right just because someone thinks i would be good at something yeah is that reason enough to do it and it is not a commitment where if like four months in i'm like you know this wasn't my thing orphanages i'm kind of those buildings are great for that i'm gonna pivot those buildings were created for second thought i'm just gonna they're like the fries maybe let's try to truffle fries just take away the i'll also lean into that i'll lean into the second half of your comments like those who envision like man i i wish i had a father figure like that or this person the time i've had to live life is how i've developed the wisdom is how i've developed the nuance it's because because i'm here i'm i'm present like when when i'm here with you guys my wife is curious and independent we love each other respect our space she's doing something in new york okay and i have no fear of her and what she's doing and i have full trust in what she's doing which allows me to be here with you guys yeah fully to maybe learn something to develop a little maybe another layer of the onion like that it's it's the time without those commitments right that have led me to be who i am so if i did have those commitments i wouldn't be who i am it's all hypothetical yes everything yeah is a compromise we just have to be willing to choose which compromise we want to make and the the thing that makes this question so difficult is i'm on the wrong side of the math everybody has kids well that's that's not necessarily true but a majority of the folks do they aspire to have a family so because i don't want to i'm an oddball right like what the what the fuck is wrong with you yeah like what's i'm i just want to choose to be over here in my lane in life and i understand that that is not the majority yeah so living in that small bracket you got to answer a lot of questions and that's okay because it also makes me think about like man am i second guessing anything and i'm not i'm not i'm still like so interested on what's out there and gosh i like i know i i know i know what the commitment is right you know what i mean yeah yeah and uh man even even like my dad was a great dad raised five of us worked his ass off yet me growing up i wanted him to be somebody he wasn't and like i'm talking growing up fuck that to like five years old i wanted my dad to be something he wasn't and then at 46 i was like man maybe i'll just try to meet that son of a bitch where he's at and now we have a much better relationship gosh what a what a steep hill to climb for my old man a 45 year commitment maybe looking for a good relationship with his son and just because i'm over here thinking i want you to be somebody and you're not that person yeah and hoping that maybe one day it turns around and not knowing if it's gonna or not and it's really not in your control you know what i'm saying like i don't i don't know man i just uh i'm with you yeah yeah but it's crazy it's so refreshing to hear a man speak about parenthood because obviously our gender sort of makes us fathers automatically people never assume that you're looking at your capacity to be present you're looking at that's am i emotionally capable of being there for this person long term am i even interested in being there because everyone assumes that at a certain age as a man you can be a father in fact you yeah it's more than that it's it's also that there isn't an expectation in a way does that make sense yeah yeah so so it's like if i'm hearing it so it's almost like people go with a woman if she's like oh i can't then they're like yeah then you shouldn't do it if you'd yeah with guys they almost you're like how about busy there's like you can be busy you don't need to be around you're just a dude man you just get the sperm and you're good and but you know what i mean it's so interesting that you've said that whether it's society at large whether it's us whether it's not it feels sort of gone oh no there is no emotional burden or there is no emotional expectation or very little yeah on being a father yeah you just have to be a provider and then you've done a good job and like here you are going no no i consider the emotional ramifications of this not just for myself but for the potential human being i may meet on the other side and that's how i'm making the decision and also it's it's my life damn you know like i that's that's where that's where this work line of work is fragile yeah because when you say like man this is my go-round and i'm choosing to go this direction that might turn a lot of folks off but again i i'll state my claim on like the fact that i've been able to absorb all of these moments yeah without my attention being split or fractured has led me to be the the man i am today which i i look at the guy in the mirror and he ain't perfect tons of flaws but i love that dude and i'm i'm super at peace i still want to do more and experience more and i i just it's it's my life it's my it's that's what that's a choice i made have you have you ever noticed how people will question your decision to not partake in something with like a higher level of judgment but if you are on the opposite side of it and you regret it then they'll be like but then why did you do it you ever notice that yeah so like yeah for instance if you go i don't drink people like what do you mean you don't drink you're like yeah i don't i don't drink i don't want to drink then like people like what you don't drink come on man just try the come on man you don't know what you mean how you going but just one yeah but then if you drink and then afterwards you go like yeah i drank but i didn't you know in my life and what then people like you shouldn't have done it shouldn't have done it yeah yeah there are many people who have kids who then say i wish i didn't have kids up and then their kids or other people will judge them and go well then why did you do it why do you like well because you guys kept asking me why i don't have kids and i should have a kid and then i said i don't want a kid and then i had the kid and now you're going why did i have the kid now i had the kid and i didn't you see what i'm saying and what i love about your explanation about the relationship that you and your father had or that you wish you had until you're 45 is you didn't choose to make a human being to heal you you became the father that you wish your dad was to yourself you were present you were driven you were there you did everything you did everything you didn't create a human and go i'm gonna try because a lot of a lot of guys do that they sometimes want to heal the relationship that they never had with their fathers by kids oh my goodness wow wow man that's goosebumps wow that's yeah uh i did not do that but yeah that is wow that's that hit me like a ton of bricks that's it that is a good one that makes me think yeah it's man yeah you're right wow well i'm i am glad that i finally met my dad where he's at that's beautiful and and gosh we we're doing great and i'm also uh i'm i'm also on my stance and uh i think making those tough choices yeah that are against popular opinion but deep down you know it's the direction that you want to go in so hard that's now i gotta walk the talk i gotta live my life i gotta try every day to have joy in my life i gotta try every day to be useful i gotta keep my curiosity so in saying no to one thing i've got to commit to be to walk in the talk so it does hold me accountable not saying that i would It shouldn't be those things. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I know what you mean. - But like, hey, I'm saying no to this because I believe I can travel in this lane. Well, fucking let's go. Let's go to work. Yeah. Don't press anything. We've got more What Now? after this. And I remember in 2010, we had a movie meeting in Houston about like this dog shit movie. And the guys were like, I don't know if you're right for it. It was like, it was fucking dog shit. And the guys making the movie were like, I don't know if we can go with you. They get up and leave. I look at Dan. I'm like, man, we're never making movies again, are we? And this is like my agent. He's supposed to be like, no, no, no. He's like, nah, we're never making movies again. Straight up. Like, nah, dude. But hey, what he did was feedback sandwich. No, we're not. We are going to find another way. But I love that you and your dad had, I love that you had that in the life. Yeah. You know, I think for so many people, like with my mom, she had like a really tumultuous relationship with my gran. And in the last few years of my gran's life, she was forced to live with my mom. And the best way I can put it, they fell in love with each other. That's great. They do. They met each other where they were. They learned a different side. And my mom always says, she's eternally grateful for those years. Cause she goes, those were the years that were everything. Like she goes, everything else almost doesn't matter. Right. Those were the years. That was their relationship. And all it kept me thinking was for all of us in life is I go, man, I said this to you. I was like, I just hope for everyone out there. I may your parents live long enough that they heal the wounds. They inflicted upon you. That's all. I just, because a lot of the time it's time. It is. It is, man. I mean, like I said, it was 45. And I realized like, that's not fair to my dad. Yeah. Fuck. What am I doing? We're all healthy. Yeah. We're all thriving. Like he did a good job. But without time. He can't get to that. And some folks never get there. Do you ever think about how old you were when your dad, how old your dad was when you were that age? Do you ever think about, I think about that all the time. And it blows my mind. So like my dad at 50 now. So how old was your dad when he had you? Oh my goodness. That had been 45 years ago. He's 82. So yeah. I mean, well. 30 something. Yeah. Late mid thirties. Mid late thirties. I always find that that's, that's often the time. It's the strangest thing. Yeah, about 30. Yeah. Yeah. But it's the strangest thing that'll happen to us. And what were you doing? At 30, you had how many kids? Yes. At 30, I was his second. Think about that. And he had a wife. Yes. And a job. And he was about to have another the next year, another two years after that, another two years after that. And at 30, what were you doing? At 30, I was riding a lightning bolt. Isn't that crazy that you lived these parallel lives? But that's what I'm saying. I always think that gives, that's one of the things that has helped me find grace. Yeah, yeah. Is to sometimes remind myself, I go, man, my mom had me when she was 20, what? Which was normal then. But I'm like, I even tell her when we hang out, I go, lady, forgive yourself for everything. Because I'm like, I don't know what you were doing at 20. In fact, I don't even, I wish I could go back in time and as a child, look at you and be like, lady, you don't know what you're doing, relax. Let's figure it out together. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because I looked at you like you're supposed to know what you're doing, but I'm like, at 20, relax. She's kind of still finding herself. Exactly. But with time though, you can get to the place where you may meet them, they may, it's just, man, to have the blessing of time in a relationship is one of the things I wish everyone can experience. It's beautiful. And for me, it's like, I don't know, man, your life is just this, you know, I think about all of the things you've been lauded and applauded for. One of the biggest being, you know, holding the record for Make-A-Wish. And I won't lie, maybe it's like a fear thing in me. Maybe it's like a, it's, it's not like a selfishness, but I found myself wondering every time I'd read that, I'd go, how do you hold your heart through all of that? Because it's beautiful when you're going out to these kids and you're meeting them and you're making their day. And, but I can't imagine how many letters you've gotten afterwards when the kids have passed away. And how, like, do you know what I mean? How do you hold those two things, the joy and elation that you bring, and then also the tragedy that you're experiencing at a rate that few human beings in the world will ever experience? So I've, I've talked about this a little. My, my piece in that puzzle is to provide escape, to provide a much needed day off for not only a child, but a family that the math isn't on their side. Yeah. They're, they're, they're the anomaly. You know, the life expectancy exists for a reason because we've got a bunch of people and they live to be this, hey, you're supposed to make it to whatever it is now. Loss is tough for everybody. The toughest losses are, like, the ones where y'all, you didn't, you didn't get a fair shot. If, if you're supposed to make it to 75, how are you calling it quits at six? You know, like, that's, that's tough. My, my piece in, in that journey is to provide escape and to be a conduit for joy. And if I cannot do that, if I'm not able to fulfill those duties, walk away. I don't, I don't, I don't do much with Make-A-Wish outside of WWE because I believe that the environment does not, is not the correct conduit for joy. Okay. Bring a kid to a movie set. Unless they're a movie junkie, of which I've done, we've put Make-A-Wish kids in movies. Those are long, boring days. Yeah. It's very patient. Nothing really happens. We do things over and over and over again. And for a young person who probably is, has an awareness of time that most young people don't have. Damn. Not a good experience. Wow. But you bring them in to an arena at five o'clock when they skip the line and they get in a private room and everybody comes to say hi to them. And like, then we sit down and we kick it. I'm like, Hey, I'm wearing this stuff. You guys, where are you guys sitting? What's your sign say? Awesome. You want to see anything out there tonight? Tips, strategy. And they'll be like, oh man, you do this, do this. And I, I plan the action so I can go back and do it. And I know where they're at and I'm like, thanks. And it doesn't, it doesn't mess up the show. I'm not going into business for one consumer, but it's a conduit for joy. So again, knowing the room, I love the Make-A-Wish charity. I also don't do it a lot outside of WWE because it's not like, it's not the escape. It's more of a burden. You travel the families and then they get to a place and it's like, ah, this kind of wasn't what I thought, even the most shocking thing. Even the shy kids, even, even the kids that are up against it, who have just enough wherewithal to travel, everybody gets a day off of those, however many the number is, everyone gets a day off, everybody, and, and like, that's the thing. I don't, I don't do the thing selfishly just to keep doing it. No, I know what you mean. Yeah. This is not the, this is not the environment for that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's the purpose. We need to get him to the show. And that's why kind of my chapter there is, is closing and it should be Roman's turn. It should be Cody's turn. It should be Seth's turn. It should be Javon Evans' turn. It should be Braun Breaker's turn and Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch. They need to be the conduit for joy. And I think it's understanding what you're doing and also understanding that like, yo, just because I've, I've helped promote this thing and some folks would use me as the face of this thing, it's time to pass it on. Right. Very much like wrestling. I'm on the front of the poster, but like, it's time to, it's time to go. So being able to, to be that conduit is just understanding what you're doing and the experience, the wisdom, the lessons I've learned, I value every, every fucking second. I tell people I love that I love them. I don't, I don't protect the word. I tell people I don't protect it, but I don't waste it. It's, it's earned every time it's said, but I won't hold it back if, if the moment is right. And I, I realized like, my God, I love this person. I love you. And just understanding that no one controls, like life expectancy is a thing. It's a statistic, but nobody controls when we check out, dude. So like, not at all. And I've seen, I've seen these families have so much joy and like, what the fuck is my problem? That doesn't mean blind optimism. No, but yeah. That doesn't mean like. Like true positive mental attitude. That means feeling all the feels. Yeah. But also like, wow. All right. Let's, let's do what we can to course correct. Let's get back in a, in a good mind state if we can. And, and also like, Hey man, we're all, we're all just rent. All of us. You know, I don't, I don't know if enough people look at that and process that. Like we, every one of us is, is going back to the ground. We're all just renting. We are, we are. And, and, and the, the gets, the Ferraris, the houses, it's not yours. You're just, you're just taking care of it to the next person. That's it. Literally. This is going to find its way to somebody. My suits went to a thrift store. I donate suits when I don't wear them. I donate suits. Some lady was like, I found 10 John Cena waistcoats. Yeah. Those are mine. Cause they're just going on. Who wears your size? I don't know, but they can make a couch out of it. This would be nice. This would be nice. Love seeing you. maybe are there other things that you um that you don't get from acting that you miss from wrestling there's nothing like wwe yeah there's there's nothing like it it is a and that i guess that's the thing like i struggled i got kind of like run out of the movie business and then my goodness you want to talk about being lucky i got a second chance right it's just a different thing and when i was in my 20s uh because of a business model decision it's like hey you're going to australia to do this movie why because we're opening our own studio and if we make you guys movie stars more people will come to the arenas yeah more people the arenas that sounds fucking dope let's go do this movie what do you mean i have to wait around for eight hours what do you mean it's that we can't do this we can't just shoot this 85 pages now and i can go back to doing the thing i wanted to fuck i was 20 performing in front of crowds being athletic like yeah i came from football so it's like man this is i know football never was going to work out for me but like this is it like this is this is what i want to do i'm doing this other stuff so what i want to do can be better and a lot of times you know you you do ancillary things to build the thing but my heart wasn't in it and then as i kind of looked at what i was doing i mean i played the same character on television for with wwe for 20 years yeah wow and then somebody comes along and be like hey we'll we'll give you the versatility to create something you just need to have a better mindset on those patient days you know i of course then i was in my late 30s you get a little wiser take your foot off the throttle a little bit okay appreciate the process appreciate that every job is important yeah it gives me a newfound respect for making film and now i'm as passionate about it and that was the breaking point of like hey man put the effort you put into wwe into this and just see where it takes you but don't complain if it doesn't work if you're not doing the same because you busted your ass in the gym and it got you to wwe and you took the effort and put the same amount of effort into wwe and man you you you've navigated some waters let's put the same thing into this just fucking leave it all out there and you're gonna have some good ones and you're gonna have some bad ones and eventually it's gonna be over but at least you know when you look back on it i look back on that first chapter yeah my heart wasn't in it and i got run out of town for it okay i did a lot of bad movies right because i wanted to be elsewhere it's like doing the interview with you guys trying to get information out of me and i'm like what the fuck it's tough it's tough when you have a guess it's a dead stick yeah you know yeah i'm putting everything i got i'm giving you guys everything i got i'm trying to engage i'm trying to be present i want this time with us together at the very least if nobody fucking watches it to be productive for us that's what we always say you know what i'm saying if the cameras aren't rolling you still gotta be like man did we have a good time or did we not have a good time otherwise what are we doing and i believe that people are attracted to oh man that seems like a fun time you know i'm wrong so when i have that that confidence that that that's where all like this shit came from just having a good time and then when i take that effort that confidence um into another avenue we have ourselves a pivot but it that's people think it like and then you pivot it to movies no that was a that was 10 years of failure fucking failure doing movies that nobody watched to the point where i couldn't even walk on red view or like uh get auditions no one would talk to me damn and then my my he's not my manager and my agent he's like my business better half like we are yin and yang in the same thing yeah uh he's right outside and i remember in 2010 we had a movie uh meeting in houston about like this dog shit movie and the guys were like i don't know if you're right for it like it it was like it was fucking dog shit and and the guys making the movie were like i don't know if we can go with you they get up and leave i look at dan i'm like man we're never making movies again are we and this is like my agent he's supposed to be like no no no he's like nah we're never making movies again straight up like nah do this but hey what he did was feedback sandwich no we're not we are going to find another way so i read the news uh i hosted live shows i just stayed polishing my skills uh i took feedback well what got us here why have we done this yeah dude your fucking heart's not in it and you're not as serious about it and i hear you talk ad nauseum about wwe those folks that are successful on that hollywood side they talk ad nauseum about hollywood yeah you know it's funny you say that there's this um this is there's this um there's this uh youtuber i guess so i don't know which platform he's on but either way he's a content creator and really fantastic what he does is he does these press junkets where you know you know where they go and interview you guys for the movies and you know i'm sure you you've done a million of them you just came from one there you go and people ask you the same question they ask it's everything about the movie as well and your character and you're this and you're that and you're that and it's so nice to see people who are thinking of new ways to do this what he does is he takes um a movie and he basically breaks it down into its color palettes if that makes sense so like every scene in the movie he cuts into a slice and it becomes like a barcode of color and then what he does to actors and directors is he goes like yo let's do a let's do a like a quick a quiz i'm gonna pull this color palette up and i'll give you like three movies that you've been in or that are big or whatever you tell me what movie you think it is what i'm talking about imagine i showed you a barcode yeah that was like blues and greens with a little bit of red here but like thousands of lines like and to your point you should see the difference between the actors and the directors but like some of the actors will just be like oh yeah that's uh oh that could be this is i saw one the other day of tom cruise he was like you see the thing you're talking about i was like yo this guy likes his movies man he likes making movies he likes he he was like oh wait wait wait uh eyes wide shut yeah yeah the purple the scene that the purple and he and and i'm watching him watching that i was like oh he loves it yeah but that's why the the that's why the mission impossible is what it is and that's why the top gun is what it is and that's why that's why he's had a 50 year career yeah that's but it's exactly what you just said some people go i want to be famous then they choose the shortcut to fame which is acting or whatever some of them are successful some are not but then the ones that are really successful in any field whether it's fame business whatever it may be we take for granted what you just said their eyes light up when at the opportunity to wax lyrical about the thing yeah you should have seen his eyes and i agree with you i think that's in any discipline yeah yeah it really is talk to comics they're they're about especially though as soon as you get higher tier we're obsessed with it yeah we're obsessed that that obsession and joy you know artists like and that's just it's not even creative uh financial management oh yeah you know a restaurant scene hospitality business like uh man car builders and i know anybody it's anybody it's what cause what cause do you have by the way you said you're a car collector what do you i have a varied amount of stuff that is a color code right it's a barcode okay what's your favorite just give me a favorite so so that's a two-part question my current my current daily driver is a 2025 civic type r i'm waiting i'm gonna wait for the 2027 i did not expect that answer i have been lucky enough to be the voice of honda now for gosh it's got to be six years but i know okay and i knew about every model they had and i remember when i signed with them they're like we're gonna give you a car what do you want you want the acura nsx i'm like no i want to drive a honda i want to boost blue type r and i want the carbon fiber kit and they're like how do you know about these options like you picked the right guy so i'm on my second type r i'm gonna hopefully switch it when the 2027s come out because they got some new mods that i like the reason i like it is it's a true 5c car it's a hatchback it's my ride to the airport and everywhere else i know it will start because a lot of the other stuff that i have is beautiful not necessarily reliable yeah but it's still beautiful um jay leno spends most of his time on the side of the road in the shop yeah yeah on the side of the road fixing is one thing stuck jay leno spends most of his time on the side of the road he's got like a personal tow guy yeah that's how often his car he has some eclectic stuff that is just real tough to make reliable yeah i know you can't my favorite car i still have the first car i ever bought with my own money what is that it's a 1989 jeep wrangler and i bought it at santa monica motors 2 on santa lincoln continental which was like a half gift from my dad half money from me uh the first car i ever bought outright was this jeep it had 65 000 miles on it and i was like man if i can just get like 10 000 miles on it i'd be fine and i still have it it's got 185 000 miles on it it lives a nice comfortable retired life up in massachusetts only comes out on sunny days but it is like fully restored but not the exterior i still have all the sun patina all the rust but if you look underneath it is like a little bit of a mess it's like a little bit of a mess it's like a little bit of a brand new because i want it to run i don't want to be stuck and i i can never sell it like i can never i can get another 89 wrangler but i can't ever get that one and like that was the first thing i did when i was like man you're a paid professional wrestler and you're about to move to kentucky you need a car i'm buying this jeep so that was that was the first car i bought my own money i love that that car is in some ways a metaphor of you like you go the car i just want wrestling you're like i just want to get three years out of it and then now you're like oh you know i'm gonna have this long run and look what it's done for me but hey i want to treat it easy i'm not going to drive it every day now yeah i wanted to live a long healthy life on sundays i gotta keep the knees healthy maybe a maybe a maybe a through line there is just it's it's all enjoyable man like i still enjoy a deep appreciation that you seem to have it's just like a do you always have this or did something happen in your life that switched things up so i feel in doing reflection that i've always been lustful for life um even decisions of like man i'm gonna not get my ass kicked not by learning how to fight and beat the shit out of people yeah but by lifting weights so people just won't bother me anymore you're talking about being bullied yeah and i can still dress from dressing do you still remember your bully by the way because i i remember my bully so and i'm always in you don't remember were you bullied first of all no i don't know if you were or weren't maybe you were the bully happening now oh man don't be like that you saw me i was like brother no but i get out of here i just find it fascinating that like everyone remembers their bully i'm yet i'm yet to remember i'm yet i'm yet to meet a person who doesn't remember who doesn't remember their bully i'm talking about like super a-list movie stars i'm talking about presidents uh musicians ceos i don't care who you are in life and what you've done a father you're a father of seven you're a grandfather and i go who bullied you and then they'll be like james d it's like you remember your bully of course i do and i'm i'm so grateful for him because again right harkening back to the kids decision it's tough you're gonna piss off a lot of people i pissed off a lot of people with the way i dressed it just didn't fit and the music i listened to the way i styled my hair i was like this was rap music in the late 80s early 90s dude high top fades rayon polka dots airbrushed overalls starter jerseys worn backwards like in not just massachusetts west newberry massachusetts the town population is 1100 people oh good and it it was 100 white some would even say you're asking for it some would say especially those people who took advantage of that situation i know i know so i'm faced i'm faced with a choice life is going to be tough if i keep doing this yeah but this is really who i am i'll get through the tough huh i don't want to i don't want to just conform i want to be who i am i want to live life my way okay how can i live my life my way i don't want to how can i traverse the waters maybe if i beef myself up people will stop fucking with me because the last thing you want to do you get into a room you're like i don't want to mess with that yeah you know what i'm saying so i try do i think i can take him no i 50 50 shot i'm not going to give him you know that's that's an easy way to do that so i even making that decision the decision to to go to boarding school um where and why i went to college uh changing my major like there's a string of decisions that maybe at the time from 12 to 15 to 19 to 24 to 30 like i didn't know that life is the greatest gift but i did because my decisions indicate that you know like it's like you didn't know it but you felt it like um the spidey sense of like this is opportunity go you know like i don't know what's going to happen but go go for it yeah yeah and it's all that's i i'm not perfect in my batting average but i think i got i think i got more more awareness than failure of awareness you know and again a lot of that is just being able to be be able to pivot be able to have that freedom of like man i don't i don't have a lot of other responsibilities this thing comes up you want me to go where what now sure let's go like i've always been let's let's fucking go this this might be something so i now i'm i'm truly grateful for life like it is the best gift somebody asked me today about the make-a-wish thing they're like what's the what's the record you want to break i said life expectancy i want as many days as i can get because it's beautiful i don't i don't want this to end you know uh and it will and that's okay but i have that appreciation i think i've always had it i just couldn't put it into words my actions define that like yo this dude is going for life he's going at it and the the decisions weren't always gonna get me from not being broke like no kidding dude i i was happy i was living a happy life where i was sleeping in my car like i had i had joy in my life right right right and again by choice yeah here's a tough thing do you want the easy road conform with the bullies or go back home or do you want the tough route yeah i think i've always been okay to be like there might be potential in tougher route i think i'm going to take that you know yeah it's it's the more rewarding part right the path less traveled you discover something new you find yourself really tough yeah yeah but that's but i always think that that that is the risk and the reward of it it's a it's similar to to reflecting on self yeah a lot of a lot of folks ain't ready for it man a lot of folks can't be like man this is where i really messed up in life or like these are the things i could change about myself or maybe i gotta work on this or these are my strengths or what am i even doing or what what's my purpose what are my core values all any of that reflection is great and it sounds good and uh instagram uh post or like something but it's also very difficult it's very difficult to do but the reward man the reward is like the yield is is you can't calculate it because you don't know what what's possible after you're willing to course correct figure out who you really are be honest with yourself and what you want yeah you know what i'm saying that honesty is tough though but the yield man like the yield of of facing parent shaming being like no it's cool it's all right and and but like you're gonna not you because you're joking but someone who genuinely was like i don't your mind will change when you have kids that interaction is going to last five minutes they're going to go away and i'm left with my life and i'm i still after that interaction i'm like good pitch but i'm still in the i'm in the place where i forget that though i think as humans we forget that we forget how often the interaction for them was less than the snippets and we're going to go off and live our lives we make it seem like when they leave they're going to be off somewhere being like honey are you okay i can't sleep i don't know if john cena's gonna have a kiss tonight i just i can't sleep well here's here's another difficult thing and that's why like um being in the creative space is so fragile because if someone comes up and says you don't get it you'll you'll change your mind when when you have kids and and i politely say okay thank you for the perspective yeah they could walk away being like john cena's an asshole and that might be the only five minutes i get with them yeah maybe it's less than five minutes maybe it's 90 seconds yeah you know and because i see this person that oh my there's the guy or there's the person i need to i would like to interact with that person you have no clue what they're going through you have no clue what's on their plate for the day you have no clue what just happened to them and on top of that my interaction with that person is going to formulate an opinion about that person not their creative work it's going to correlate it's going to get all lumped in thing so man the the patience of moving through space with with kindness and empathy is something i've really worked on because one human being at a time is is the ability for me to hopefully keep playing dress up for a living oh and it also it it helps course correct my nihilism uh it it makes me grateful for life like a lot of that stuff like um but again one bad interaction and and nowadays folks who like pray off of the bad interactions yeah now now some people have turned it obviously because of social media they try and engineer a bad interaction they try and fabricate it they try and create a thing that think but i we had a you again it's so funny you're saying these things we often bump into it's almost like an energy but i said to eugene the other day one of the things that gave me peace was understanding that i did not get to where i was from one interaction and so no one could take it away in one interaction you're right you're right and i think that's an important thing like for everyone to remember it doesn't matter where you are how you work it's like no no no don't don't minimize your successes to one thing because they weren't so don't let one person threaten to take them all away you're you're very right and uh and that that you're correct uh paul hayman had a very nice quote in his hall of fame speech i've been canceled 10 times and i got up 11 like you're right no no one thing can define the right and uh paul hayman had a very nice quote in his hall of fame speech i've been canceled 10 times and i got up 11 like you're right depending on what the moral code yeah um also just understanding that hey man when i leave the house i become a an interactive piece for people oh damn no that's no but it's true it is i'm just saying the fact that you're articulating it yeah and and i'm not perfect but i'm i've gotten i'm better than i was yesterday and and like i said it helps me with empathy it helps me with kindness if someone comes up and is disrespectful when they walk away i'm like man i don't know what kind of people can be disrespectful to you so see that blows my mind again in my maybe again it's because my my i still have my wrestling child brain i do not perceive i cannot think of a person coming up to john cena and being disrespectful so like in my brain i just can't think of that there there are a lot of folks who'd be like man i can't i can't see john cena being disrespectful to someone and that if i have been it certainly wasn't intentional unless i believe i believe respect is a boomerang right throw none out there you'll get none back uh but there might be a chance where like i'm going to the flight i'm going to a flight and i got to make it or i'm going from a to b okay like yo i'm like dude you If you want to walk with me or whatever, or I just don't have time. Ah, yeah. That might be like, fuck this dude, this fucking guy. Yeah. You know? Well, I think it's because a lot of the time people, you know what really helped me was my youngest brother. He's wise beyond his years, 20 years younger than me. He'd always drop, he'd just like throw a gem into my life, like a lightning bolt of a gem. One day he said to me, because he would experience this with me, you know? And then one day he said, you know, bro, one of the things we should never take for granted is that you are the highlight of their day. Yeah. And they don't understand that they're not the highlights of yours and not in a shit way. He's just going like, to them, it's like, oh my God, you just walked into, you walked into a supermarket in your head. In their head, for some person, they're going like, Trevor, no, I just walked into a supermarket. And you're like, no, I just walked into, I need to grab this. I'm grabbing a Band-Aid. The fingers cut. They're like, well, what are you doing? You want to grab yourself? I'm like, my fingers bleed. Yeah, can I get a selfie? Wait, my finger, I'm bleeding. I'm bleeding. They're like, I don't mind. Can we get a selfie? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm going to die. Okay, can we get the selfie first? Okay, look, man, I just, and then you realize, oh, it's just two people seeing a completely different reality in the same space. Which is common in a lot of interactions. Yeah, yeah. And again, like, increase that empathy knob a little bit. I like this. Yeah, it's no one, very few, very few people are malicious. Yeah, that's true. And they're just trying to do the best they can with managing their emotions and like seeing something they, you know, they're not going to be able to do it. This is unique. Yeah. Surprise. There are a few, like I said, you throw no respect out, you'll get no respect back. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I will be stern. But that's, that has nothing to do with me thinking I'm above anyone. Respect is a core value of mine. And if we can't relate as humans, and if I can see that like, you're not in the business of trying to manage your emotions, you're just being a dick, well, I will, I will close off some walls. And, and you can, you can inch your way back in. Right. With a little bit of diplomacy. But like, man, you can't, you can't treat a human being like that. And that's, those are very rare cases. Most times when I say like, people will be disrespectful to me. It's how I want to be treated. Well, who the fuck knows how I want to be treated? You know, like I, I really prefer people coming up and saying hello. Because that's human, human contact. I love that stuff. But it's more like, yo, can I get a picture? It's, can I get a picture? Well, already you've taken it. Yeah, yeah. So I don't have a say in the matter. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Also, I understand that they're probably just, I didn't want to bother you. I just turned on, take a few seconds. I got like, or like people shooting video from you from long lens to be like, I just didn't want to interrupt you. Yeah. Okay. I get that. I, I, I kind of feel like a, an exhibit, but, but I also understand where you're coming from. You know? So like, um, I don't know, very few people like outright malicious. It's a nice way to live life, man. It's a nice way. It's, bro, very few people out there are like, I'm going to wake up today. Fuck that guy over. Like, think of how many times you woke up and said that. Yeah. You at home watching this. Think of how many times you said that. And, and there probably been a few days, right? There's probably been a few days, but it's not a lasting thing. Yeah. That's not who you are. It's not a lasting thing. Yeah. So you're, I'd like to believe that humanity by and large is not malicious. I'm not saying that there's not. No, no. Yeah. The majority of the folks are just trying to do the best they can and live a good life for them and theirs. Yeah. I get it. You know, it makes. It makes this hang crazy is I, I, I get to watch my friend through you. There's so many things that you guys spoke about that I see in him and I try to explain to him and he's like, oh man, I don't understand the sunny disposition that he has. There's so many times where emotionally he's rescued me from situations where I was like, there's no end to this thing. And he's like, let's keep going. And I keep saying to him, whenever we're hanging out, how did you know this thing was going to work? It's the same thing that you have. There's intuition. There's heightened. There's an intense sense of intuition that you have to say, if this keeps going some ways around the corner, there's a good result for all of us. And also the empathy that you show to people that love you and love your work. I've seen it in action and I'm like, no one is out there to try and ruin your day. And you always give people a chance to just express themselves and you forgive them for their transgressions sometimes of seeming rude, but you just move on with your life and you never let that slice of action just ruin your day. Like you said, it's not perfect, but you try. It's so weird to see how. How you guys express the same emotions and sympathy to people. When, when'd you, when'd you start with all this? How long have you been in this? So it's, it has now been 22 years. I think time is a good, you talked about time with relationships, so now let's, let's widen it and just not regulate it to relationships. I think time gives you that perspective on life, especially if you're open-minded and curious, if you are set in your ways, man, I go back to West Newbury and there's still the same folks sitting at the same seats. And they. They, they've aged, but they haven't aged here, here. Yeah, yeah. I believe 20 years in the creative space and the creative business is enough time for you to have thoughts and be like, man, I, yeah, this is, this is good. I should be all right. And, and also develop perspectives of like, it's not all I am. It's not all that defines me. I'm not, but like, that's, I like hearing that because I think you've, you've had the time under tension that it takes to think of greater things. I'm under tension. I love that. That it takes. Yeah. To think of greater things. You just, you're not focused on like, uh, man, I gotta do this set, which you, yes. When I go out to do a match or when I go. Yeah. That's when the focus happens. Sure. Yes. But then afterwards you can, you can think about a, a, a larger things. You can, you can reflect on all the years. So where do we find you now in life? Like, like if we, if we talk about these stages and we talk about these cycles, you know. So by the calendar, I'm at the half century mark. Okay. So that's pretty crazy, right? Half century. Fuck. What are you doing for your 50th, by the way? So I've thought about it. Uh, my, the people I love in my life are very fragmented and to try to hurt all the cats and get them all together in one space is very selfish. Um, it's just my wife and I, and we're, life has been very lucky to us. So I think instead of on a day to be like, all right, it's the birthday, let's go. I think for my 50th year on the planet, I want to actively make trips to the people I love. Look at this guy. And spend some time. Spend some time in an environment that they feel most comfortable. Look at this guy. And, uh, intuition and, and just enjoy the company of, of those folks, you know, and it's, it's, I'm not going to a hundred places. It'll, it'll be a, I got a small core group, but it's, I would say it's like eight folks. And, uh, that's the initial idea of like, well, what do I really want to do? I want to, I love connecting and spending time with people I love and dude, I will lean. You have learned, I will lean into some fucking conversation. Oh, no, that's, I mean, that's what I love. Bouncing, bouncing these ideas around and all the people I love, they all, they're not yes people. They all challenge me. They'll call me out of my bullshit. We're all focused on growth and being better than we were yesterday in our own different lanes. We're not carbon copies of each other. Not everybody's like a, a muscle bound, dumb ass jock. Like it's, we got, we got people like the X-Men. We got people with different talents. Uh, so I, I really think spending a year with intent to connect with people I love is probably a good way to celebrate a half a century on the rock. You know what I always love about moments? Like this, cause that's beautiful, but I always love just my comedy brain goes, there's like one friend who's like, honey, isn't it, isn't it, isn't it John's 50th? It's like, yeah, yeah, it is. It is. Oh my God. I wonder what he's going to, I wonder what he's got planned. I mean, it's John. So we're probably, he's probably going to invite us somewhere amazing. We're all going to go. I mean, we're going to be on a trip out of this world. It's going to be, hey, uh, happy birthday. You got, you got mac and cheese for dinner? Did you bring your old Jeep? Can I? You got an extra seat? You don't? I'll sit on the ironing board. Is that okay? Is that good? We good? No, we're not good. I'm going to surprise. I'm going to show him. I brought beers. Man, John, this has been amazing, man. Thank you. Dude, it's great to see you again. This is like, thank you. Truly amazing. Man, when, uh, so we have a past relationship of conversation, which means we can kind of get into some minutia. You jumped right in and like with, with bold topics and beautiful thoughts, man, it's very insightful stuff. So. To be able to sit down with, essentially, we've known each other a little bit. Yeah. And somebody new and to be able to, to spend two hours of life like, oh man, I, I got some takeaways from this and I'm going to walk out of the room better than when I walked in. That's two hours more than the same. Thank you. Thank you. For real, man. This has been a true joy. And happy birthday. Thank you. Happy birthday. I still got some time. Yeah, no, but happy birthday. When is it? I'll give it to you ahead of time. April 23rd. So I'm like, um, I got to start planning now if I'm gonna make this thing happen. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So, uh, I'm quite excited. I'm crossing my fingers. I hope that's where we, where we get. You deserve every single year of those 50 years. Okay. So check this out, right? What a way to end. Yeah, yeah. Tell me. I've eliminated the word deserve from my vocabulary. Say more. I have replaced it with the word earn. Mm. Because if I say, well, I deserve that, that means I feel as if it's entitled to me. Uh-huh. I have to say, I earned that. And I have to be accountable for the earn. A lot of folks. We use that word deserve and it becomes a slippery slope. Hmm. So it's amazing. That's the, like the last piece of conversation that we have. That's the word that you've been pondering for. I have eliminated the word deserve and replaced it with the word earn because it makes you accountable and makes you question like, yo, man, I deserve that car. Switch the word. Yeah. I earned that car fair play. Huh? I deserve happiness. No, I've earned happiness. I've earned happiness. Fair play. Like, I don't, it's weird, like, I heard that and I'm like, I don't use it but when you say it I immediately just hear the word earned and for you to be like you've earned the right to spend a year kicking it with friends fuck yeah I feel comfortable saying that I've earned that but that's it I'll leave you with that one to think about no absolutely you've earned it replace deserve with earn yeah you've earned because it makes you accountable for what's going on love it damn love it John Cena everybody that's it that's a catchy tune what this was dope man this was too dope thank you What Now with Trevor Noah is produced by Day Zero Productions in partnership with Sirius XM the show is executive produced by Trevor Noah Sanaz Yamin and Jess Hackle Rebecca Chain is our producer our development researcher is Marcia Robiu music mixing and mastering by Hannes Brown random other stuff by Ryan Pardue thank you so much for listening join me next week for another episode of What Now you